On Cats, Journeys, and Homes. Feline Portraits in Two Japanese Novels: Hiraide Takashi’s Neko no Kyaku (The Guest Cat) and Arikawa Hiro’s Tabineko Ripōto (The Travelling Cat Chronicles)
On Cats, Journeys, and Homes. Feline Portraits in Two Japanese Novels: Hiraide Takashi’s Neko no Kyaku (The Guest Cat) and Arikawa Hiro’s Tabineko Ripōto (The Travelling Cat Chronicles)

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the present study is that of analyzing the depictions of cats intwo contemporary Japanese novels, namely Hiraide Takashi’s (b. 1950) 『猫の客』(Neko no Kyaku) (first published in 2001; English title: The Guest Cat) and ArikawaHiro’s (b. 1972) 『旅猫リポート』(Tabineko Ripōto) (first published in 2012;English title: The Travelling Cat Chronicles). I will first present the place of cats inJapanese culture and refer to their various representations in Japanese literature.Then I will investigate how the cat – which, in the case of the above-mentioned twonovels, appears as either being on the road to another place or in a specific location- was portrayed in the literary works of Hiraide and Arikawa. In addition, I will take into consideration the human-feline relationships that are illustrated in them, which develop into intimate, spiritual ones, and explore the feline behavior as depicted in the presence of human beings.

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